Water Marquee is a free photo watermarking application that works in your browser. There's nothing to download or install. We hope you'll give it a try.

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Tips for Better Landscape Photography

Whether you like to take travel shots on vacations or just wander around
the areas close to your home, landscape photography is more than just point and
shoot. As with any other type of photography, a little knowledge and a lot of
practice will make your landscape photography much better. The practice is up
to you, but this article will give several tips for taking your landscape
photography to the next level.

Learn About Focal Points and Depth of Field

Most landscape photography covers a lot of territory from close to the photographer
to the far distance. There can also be a wide variety of subjects in the shot,
such as architecture, trees, mountains, etc. The first thing you need to decide
is what is the main subject? This will be your focal point. Learn how to choose
the focal point for your camera and make sure the main subject is in sharp
focus. Depth of field refers to how much of the image is in focus. For most
landscape photographs, this will be almost everything in sight. To achieve
this, you will need to shoot a small aperture. In many circumstances, this will
cause you to slow the shutter speed below what can be handled hand-held. This
will lead to ....

Use a Tripod

You will never, ever see a professional photographer take a landscape
shot that they are going to use in their portfolio without a tripod. This piece
of equipment is more than just a gimmick or expensive toy. Using a tripod
serves one main purpose and provides a side benefit you may not know about. The
main advantage most people are aware of is that the tripod eliminates camera
shake from hand holding your camera. This is especially important with the
small aperture needed for the depth of field desired in most landscape shots.

Another advantage to the tripod is it forces you to think about the shot
a bit more. It's easy to walk around, raise the camera, snap a few frames and
then move to a new spot. The tripod takes a bit more time to set up and get in
the right position. This will slow you down and force you to think about what
is in the viewfinder. And this leads to ....

Think About the Composition

As you look through the viewfinder, think about what is and what is not
in the frame. Are there things in the frame you don't want that a few steps to
the left will eliminate? Are there things that aren't in the frame you want
that backing up a bit would include? Where is your main subject? Avoid putting
the main subject in the center of the frame. Placing it a bit off-center adds more
interest to the shot. How about the angle? If you have a beautiful sky, maybe
tilt the camera up a bit to include more. If it is is dull or blown out, tilt
the shot down and minimize the visible sky. Walk around and look at the
landscape from different angles, positions and elevations.

Learn these few simple tricks and get out there and practice. Before
long, you will be taking home breathtaking landscapes.